“If you water all the ideas the good ones will continue to grow”
Edition 7: An interview with print-maker and sculptor Christin Ripley
(Photography by Alon Koppel Photography)
Our local wine shop — Blue Bird Wine & Spirits, in Accord, NY — has had an exciting makeover since it came into new ownership last year. Not only do they have an impeccable range of carefully chosen beverages on offer (many with beautiful labels, which is how I like to pick my wine), but they have also chosen to partner with local artisans to create very covetable merch, including some trippy marble print T-shirts and totes that grabbed my attention mid-scroll on Instagram. I had to get myself a shirt, and I also wanted to speak to their creator: Christin Ripley.
Christin is originally from Florida, and moved up to Catskill, NY in 2014 after a decade plus in NYC for college and beyond. She set up her studio and store upstate, and quickly found “a very creative and supportive community” in Catskill and the nearby town of Hudson, on the other side of the river. Christin is coy about calling herself “an artist” given that usually implies gallery shows in Chelsea, but prefers to think of herself as a print-maker with a fine arts background. In fact, I found her refreshingly honest about her professional choices: “The only way to survive is to have a studio practice you can go to everyday. It’s wild that you can study your whole life to be an artist but there’s no given career path.”
In the quest to make her art functional, Christin has invented “a line of objects that blur the boundaries between soft sculpture and home decor,” creating pillows that playfully challenge traditional forms, making twists and spirals instead of squares. And, like any artist, Christin is ideas driven: the forms and names of her objects are inspired by Greek and Roman classical architecture (‘Plinth’, ‘Pediment Major’), the marbling technique she uses — Turkish Ebru marbling, where a surface print is made by floating pigment on a viscous liquid — is a nod to the stones used by ancient masons. The result is a sort of Sottsassian desirability to her home goods, the ability to have both sculpture and utility in your home: “It’s like bringing a piece of the Parthenon into your living room,” she told me.
In the scant times that she’s not in her studio, Christin loves to sail on the Hudson River, and look for inspiration from the people and places around her. She has been collaborating with local sheep farmers to create wool-based pillow stuffing (instead of petroleum-based foam) and loves to hop over to Massachusetts occasionally to see the Hancock Shaker Village where their pre-industrial methods spark new ideas and methods for creation.
It was exciting to hear Christin reflect on the creative community here in the Hudson Valley: “Sometimes regional art can vary in quality, but there are so many skilled and highly talented artists and designers in the area, there’s a strength in creativity up here that’s as high quality as in New York City.” I, for one, am determined to shine a light on all those talented people.
‘Cyma’ by Christin Ripley (Photography by Alon Koppel Photography)
Christin, your work is so beautiful. When did you start using the marbling technique and what drew you to it?
Thanks so much! I first started marbling textiles when I moved to my studio to Catskill. My mom grew up in the Florida Keys and as a child she introduced me to Key West Hand Print — a small textile print shop that started in the 1960s. I was so inspired by their silkscreened textiles and business model that it planted the seeds in my head for what I’m doing now. Key West Hand Print even produced Lilly Pulitzer’s early patterned dresses during her family’s juice stand days; I just thought that was so cool that a small family run business used traditional printmaking techniques to produce such a beautiful line of large-scale textiles.
It’s important not to lose the tradition and craft of hand-marbled, silkscreen, and woodblock printed textiles, especially nowadays when it is so easy to create digitally printed textiles. But it's taken years to make my printshop fantasy become a reality, with the aim to create a line of textiles and furniture that reimagines traditional functional form.
You have found really inventive ways to create objects that are both crafted yet marketable. How do you feel about the tension between art and commerce?
Navigating that tension has been the most uncomfortable part of my studio practice. I identify with Yvon Chouinard (founder of Patagonia) when he describes himself as a reluctant businessperson.Fine arts education doesn’t clearly address the relationship between art and commerce — they don’t pair business courses with studio courses because the message of art has the power to transcend any current economic structures (even if it's still traded within those structures), however that doesn’t set up students for success to operate within capitalism. Commerce has been quietly woven into art — from the patronage model of the Renaissance period to current day commercial galleries. My practice uses the language and skillset of traditional fine art techniques, but is not art. The objects I’m making carry the torch of traditional craft, leaning away from art and towards design which has a more transparent straightforward relationship with commerce.
Christin in her studio in Catksill (Photography by Alon Koppel Photography)
I love the concept of classical architecture that runs through your work. What is it about ancient Greek and Roman forms and materials that inspires you?
Ancient Greek and Roman architecture used incredible materials harvested directly from the earth like marble and limestone, which is unlike contemporary building materials that are heavily processed by man like gypsum board, and standard 2x4 pine. The process of marbling creates a stone-like pattern, and so I thought it would be funny to imagine these uniquely shaped “marble” pillows as if they were rubble from an ancient ruin, that you could pile up and reconstruct into a colossal pillow fort on your living room floor.
When you moved to Catskill from the city it must have felt like a big shift in your life and practice. How has that move and the local area influenced your work?
I completed my undergraduate degree in NYC and that set up an incredible, automatic community of artists, colleagues and friends, many of whom I’m still in touch with 20 years later. I still feel connected to the city and sell my work at stores and participate in trade shows there, but living in the Hudson Valley has allowed me the economic freedom to start my studio and make a go of it. Living here, I’ve found a supportive, talented, skilled community of artists, designers, farmers, herbalists, chefs and creative entrepreneurs that have made it easier to pursue this life full time.
Who are the folks upstate that you like to collaborate with or turn to for inspiration?I’ve been able to work with some incredible people here, including Ashley Somes Bridge of Fortunate Ewe Farm and MJ Packer of Battenkill Fibers for harvesting and processing sheep wool to create alternative pillow insert materials. That project coincides with the incredible research and development by Hudson based designer Elise Mcmahon of Like Minded Objects — drawing awareness to textile waste by creating felted and recycled fiber inserts. I’ve done merch collaborations with many Hudson Valley small businesses including: Poor Devil Pepper Co., Good Fight Herb Co., Superior Merchandise, Supernatural Coffee, HiLo Cafe, Blue Bird Wine & Spirits to name a few. For inspiration one of my biggest mentors lives just outside Hudson, Joe Holtzman, painter & formally the founder of Nest Magazine: A Quarterly of Interiors. Joe’s maximalist approach to interior design showed me a new avenue for making a creative life that was outside the fine art/gallery model.
Blue Bird Wine & Spirits where Christin’s t-shirt & totes collaboration are on sale now
Many creators I speak to up here are equally passionate about outdoor pursuits. You love to sail — what does the experience of getting out on the water bring to your life and your work?
Sailing on the Hudson River is humbling. At times the current can be as strong as the boat’s maximum speed which means it feels like you are running on a treadmill, hoping it won’t throw you off — or, in the case of sailing, throw you too far down stream. It's not like an automatic car where you turn it on and go, it's a full mind / body experience making micro adjustments to the sail trim and steering for every slight change in wind angle and speed. Sailing reminds me, in life, when the wind and current aren’t in your favored direction you can still get to your desired destination, you just have to adjust course, take a longer winding path to get there — like beating upwind (sailing in zigzags to make forward progress against the wind) vs running with the wind at your back, assisting or pushing you along your course.
You have new products launching today! As a solo practitioner, how do you decide which ideas to pursue and find a way through uncertainty?
I think if you water all the ideas the good ones will continue to grow and the weeds become easier to see and pull. This new series has some revamped patterns that focus on single seam simplicity (or the minimum amount of seams), or slight adjustments to size and insert material. Many of the objects are the same shapes I’ve been working with but, with each marbled fabric run, the prints get better as the hours are invested in sharpening the skill.
Thank you, Christin. I can’t wait to check out your store next time I’m in Catskill.
Christin’s new products launch today on her online store — if you like beautifully crafted objects you can sit on, don’t wait. Plus, if you buy a Christin printed tote from Blue Bird Wine & Spirits in Accord you will receive a ‘tote discount’ next time you drop in for a tipple.
Lastly… it’s officially silly season (at least, that’s what we call Summer in the UK) and what’s crazier than seeing Dennis Crowley himself — founder of Foursquare and owner of Kingston Stockades — tweeting about my interview with zine creator Spike Vrusho? Thanks Dennis! #CatskillCultureClub